


Sopale and the Ashen Septant

by chromatosePaintbrush



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Homestuck
Genre: Black Romance, FOC/FOC - Freeform, FOC/MOC - Freeform, Metafiction, Multi, Not Beta Read, Pale-Black Vacillation, Yarr... I don't know what I'm doing, poly-ashen relationships, the Author wasn't trying very hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:12:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chromatosePaintbrush/pseuds/chromatosePaintbrush
Summary: In Which a Blue-Blooded Noble Whose Identity is Strongly Related to The Color of Her Features is Pursued By an Enemy Bent on Stealing Her Inheritance And Must Cohabitate With Seven Height Disadvantaged Mining Trolls...





	

**Author's Note:**

> ...While Avoiding Numerous Assassination Attempts Which Eventually Serve as Motivation of Calignous Feelings From Another, Slightly Less Blue-Blooded Girl Who Utilizes a Partially Sentient Magical Viewing Device to Frequently Question in Rhyme if She is The Most Noble of All, And Falls Into Envious Rage Upon Receiving Vague Poetic Responses Interpreted as Negative, Causing Repeated Forays Into Aforementioned Amature-Laughsassin-ing, Culminating in a Seemingly Successful Poisoning Resulting From Consumption of an Untrustworthy Fruit From The Disguised Antagonist And The Intervention of a Prince Who Has No True Narrative Purpose Beyond Serving as a Regurgitative Aid But Whose Convenient Presence Results in The Protagonist's Ability to Reclaim Her Heritage And Resolve Several Relationships And Plot Points Simultaneously; Containing One Dubious Concupicent Proposition, Several Pale Proposals, Suggestive Polymoirality, Plentiful Implied Ashen Agreements, Non-Explicit Platonic Violence, Torture And Interrogation, Pale Pining, Pale Diamondbreak And a Pale-to-Black Quadrant Flip, Off-Screen Flush And Black Concupicent Consumation, Undetailed Fight Scenes And Imperial-Approved Censorship.
> 
> As Transcribed by Edictrix Prasinic

In ancient days, there lived a blueblooded noble who lived in a high, vast castle and was well-liked as a local lord. One day, she received word that the Empress had heard of her wise battle tactics and fierce loyalty and commanded that she join the Imperial Fleet. At that time, she had been sharpening her javelin and she was startled and so slipped and cut herself. As her dark blue blood spattered on the stone she knew she would be leaving her beloved hive-castle to her descendant and so made this wish: I wish that my descendant who shall take my place here shall be as great a noble as I, and that she be known this way: With outer covering dark as steel-sharpening ore, chitinous head-follicles dark as the abyss, my blood color upon her oral flappers and with the light of bluest stars shining from her look-stubs.

Sweeps after she left to join the fleet, her descendant came to the castle with her Lusus to take her place there, and she appeared just as her ancestor had wished. Her skin was dark gray, hair blacker than black, lips a lustrous blue and the sparkle of the deep space nebulae glimmered in her kind, yet harsh ocular orbs. Her facial features were strong and her horns sharp and shapely. She was described by all who met her as firm, loyal and unwavering, but also consistently willing to listen and mediate and advise others in regards to their feelings. She was granted starry-sight, they said, seeing the signs in the sky to lead relationships to the right path. Her name is said to be Sopale, and there was nearly none in all the land who did not wish her to be their Moirail or their Auspictice. 

As it happened, though, there was one person who did not like her at all. For while Sopale was raised by a lordly and worthy Lusus, her ancestor's Lusus, being long lived, had taken on another grub to raise. Her name was Beldon. She was a high blue-blood possessed of a delicate calcium structure, sharp curves, and strong horns that were menacing, but did not at all match those of the former castle lord. Nonetheless believing herself to be more deserving of the ancestor's castle and all her riches, she challenged Sopale, and Sopale, feeling they could one day get along, conceded to allow Beldon to jointly live in the hive. It was an immense structure and each took one wing and rarely saw each-other. Sopale, having wintry-pale feelings for the world in general, grew sharp, diamond edges on her thoughts toward Beldon, and longed that one day they could reconcile a relationship. Beldon, however, was viciously jealous of Sopale for being the scion of the well-known noble, and held nothing but ebon feelings in return. 

As they were juviniles then, Beldon yet could not divine which of them was higher-blooded by eye color alone, and this grated terribly. She was not gifted with psionics, but owned a nebulous semi-sentient crystal, capable of answering one's questions if one was fortunate enough to understand the reply. One day, stewing in platonic hatred of her castle-mate, Beldon asked a question of the orb and peered inside:

"Sightless crystal, can you see? Who in the land is bluer than me?"

"Bleed sapphirically, Beldon will. But Sopale is even Nobler still."

The answer angered Beldon so greatly she flew into a high rage, and broke several reflecting surfaces, some fenestration panels, and threw stones at the servants. She did not break the crystal, however, because it was not sentient, and could only speak the truth as it saw it. As she had no Moirail, she was long in calming, and eventually, still upset, decided Sopale needed to die.

Because she did not know if Sopale was higher than she, and feared being investigated for the death of a superior, Beldon hired a lower blood to do the deed. A hunter with jungle-green blood was instructed to lead Sopale deep into the forest and cull her. Beldon instructed him to bring back the other girl's bloodpusher so she could see what color her blood was, and as proof she was dead. 

The greenblood did as he was ordered, and led Sopale into the woods on the pretense of talking about his feelings, and once there, attacked her with a hatchet. Sopale defended herself fiercely, but was disadvantaged by the surprise. The hunter shopped the handle of her trusty javelin in two and was about the cut her throat when he saw on his blade the color of her blood. Seeing how dark a blue it was, he was overcome by the shame of attacking a superior and fell to the ground to beg that she kill him to atone. Sopale refused, but demanded that he explain himself. Anguished, the hunter explained that Beldon would never return her pale feelings, and wanted her dead. 

"She is not the true heir of the former castle lord, but she has influence on her side. Her fronds are in many pies, and her treasure chests are stuffed with blackmail material. Please, Sopale, flee into the forest for now! Return when you have pupated and are strong enough to defeat her and take your rightful place."

Sopale's diamond crush was broken, and her spirit crushed. She agreed to hide until she was older, and larger, and return one day. The greenblood reported success to Beldon, and brought her the cerulean bloodpusher of a heart-beast, convincing Beldon that the girl had been of lower blood than she, and also dead. The hunter then also fled, so he could never be questioned.

In the forest, Sopale wandered, lost and confused without her Lusus for the first time in her young life. Just when the sun was about to rise, endangering her life, she came upon a hive. Although she didn't know the troll who lived there, she felt she could take a chance and may be able to convince them with her superior Moirallegiance abilities to let her stay a day or two, and barring that, she could ambush them. Breaking into the hive, she found it to be a pitiful wreck, with dirty dishes all over the recreation block, fabric garments strewn about the food preparation block, spare weapons in the ablution trap and sopor spattered on the stained floor. She stepped in one of the green blobs of sopor, and, unfortunately for her plans of springing a trap on the hive-owner, became so tired that she stumbled and clawed her way to the respite block and fell headfirst into one of the seven available recouperacoons. 

In the meantime, the hive owners were rushing back to beat sunrise. They were confused and annoyed to find a young troll had broken into their home and taken one of their 'coons for herself, but, unwilling to be cruel without knowing the circumstances, decided to sleep on the issue and decide what to do at sunset.  
Sopale awoke late after pink-moonrise to the sight of fourteen angry stare-discs. She was surrounded by seven small-statured, stubby-horned trolls of unknown blood colors. (Edictrix's note: none of which were Lime. Not at all. Or Cherry-red. Or Orange. These blood colors are illegal and also do not exist, no matter what version of this story you read long ago. Please don't cull me.) The trolls of unknown, but likely low blood-colors questioned Sopale angrily, shouting about the broken door and the use of the recouperacoon. Sopale told her story, explaining how she was fleeing not only for her life, but also from her broken diamond, and as she spoke she was filled with such a carbonic rage toward Beldon that she declared her intent to march back to the castle and platonically brutalize her.

The seven trolls of less-than-full-height saw that they could have a mutual agreement with the invader, as Sopale could assist them with various conflicts within their group, and they in turn would help Sopale train for her eventual confrontation. They each introduced themselves. They each had distinct personalities revealed by their name and also referenced their blood colors, all of which were something normal, like sepia or ocher or something, and although they each had special abilities, there's no need to type it all out, because Limebloods and mutants are culled at hatch as is right and proper and I don't want to die. 

The half dozen plus one explained that the hive abutted a cave system, and they made their living by digging for mineral ores and cleaveable pressurized carbon nuggets. They each had distinct personalities and gifts allowing them to work together to be successful miners, but once at hive, had a great many issues and conflicts. One was too shy, and never stood up for himself, for example, while another purposefully irritated everyone equally, while never following through on a true calignous relationship, but the author has started to lose interest in them so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Sopale fell into a relaxing routine, slowly getting to know each of the trolls, and using her star-sign knowledge to mediate various issues. She was so filled with pity, though, at their inability to sort their own shit or clean and keep up the hive that she was unable to settle as the Moirail of any individual. Eventually they would have realized their relationship was far from standard and come to accept the poly-paleship and ashen quadrant blurring, but this is an Imperial Approved story, so they didn't do that at all.

 

Time passed, and a once-satisfied Beldon began to grow anxious. In the intervening sweeps her eyes had filled in with rich prussian and she was proud to stare down any who dared question her claim on the castle, but she still fought the constant paranoia of someone confronting her with proof and taking away everything she had stolen. She had been so complacent in her platonic-hate relationship with her former castle-mate that the absence of the other troll was now obvious. Irritated, she sought to comfort herself by confirming what she had believed to be true since the hunter had presented her with the still-bloody bloodpusher. She turned to her only excuse for a diamond, the white-carbon prismatic sphere of dubious supernatural abilities.

"Sightless crystal, do you see? The noblest one there is- it's me!"

"Beldon glares azure, that much is true. But Sopale yet bleeds a deeper hue!"

A high, apoplectic screech rang throughout the castle that day, and all of the servants fled, rightly fearing for their lives from the raging blueblood. She resolved then to deal with her former rival herself. Using one of her many contacts, she had the greenblooded hunter who had failed her captured and brought in. At first he resisted her, and Beldon turned to enhanced interrogation techniques. Removing a white-hot branding iron from the fire, she threatened him to tell her where Sopale had gone. At last the hunter troll capitulated to save his burned hide, and gave up enough information for the hive of the miners to be found.

Spying on her enemy, Beldon determined she could not attack in open combat, as Sopale was surrounded by clade and protected. She turned to Laughsassin techniques instead. She disguised herself as a lowblooded and harmless kitch-marketer and visited the hive while the seven un-tall trolls were away.

"Hello! I am Linnsee Lohann," Beldon said disarmingly when the hinged entry panel swung half-open. 

"You are inside my territory, " Said Sopale, defending the hive. "and I will not regret impaling your skull should you choose to remain after my sufficient request for your immediate vacation of the premises."

"Ah, but I am only a harmless dirt-blooded peddler, seeking to earn a boonbuck by selling small, useless tchotchke," Beldon offered the other troll a garrote wire cleverly designed to appear to be a cheap, blue-beaded necklace. "This pearl strand would surely look lovely about your head-stem?"

"Are you hitting on me?"

Beldon paused, and then tried again. "It's very inexpensive! Here, just try it on."

Sopale had been living in safety for so many sweeps that she was not so suspicious as she should have been. No sooner had the necklace been looped about her throat than the peddler pulled the ends tight, cutting off her air supply. She dislodged the so-called salestroll and the disguised Beldon was thrown form the hive. Sopale ripped the necklace off, and demanded that the other troll quietly submit to culling for the offense, but Beldon fled into the wood, and ducked when Sopale threw her javelin, and was free to try again the next day.

(Edictrix's note: I'm told I'm not allowed to describe the second attempt, despite all of these types of stories traditionally including three tries, because it involves a bone saw that looks like a comb and the removal and subsequent re-attachment of a horn by sufficiently-advanced-technological means and apparently that will cause wigglers to believe they can put a horn right back on if it comes off and then they will be modifying their horns right and left and we'll have to cull the lot. Or something. I'm just a Booktcher, I don't make these decisions.)

The third day, Beldon returned with a new trick. She had injected a seed-fruit with cyanide, the blue poison turning the formerly ruddy plant matter a rich purple on one side. Disguised again- differently, of course- she returned to Sopale's entryplane. 

"Hello, from the outside! I am a simple fruit farmangler, offering samples. Would you like to try a pomegranate?" 

Sopale was rightly on guard, having survived two assassination attempts thus far, but she still beleived in her ability to diffuse a situation and defend herself, so she did not reject the offer.

"I've never seen such a fruit, can you prove to me that it is not a bomb or something in disguise?"

Beldon was prepared for this. She opened the fruit to show Sopale how to eat it, taking six of the red seeds to eat for herself. 

"See? I will only the eat these ugly red ones, and leave you with the royal colored-seeds. Such a noble as you would surely prefer to eat the higher-colored part!"

And so Sopale was tempted by the high-blood-like color and felt safe to eat the fruit once the farmangler had left. No sooner had she finished that she collapsed to the floor of the entertainment block. There the seven vertically-challenged mining trolls found her when they returned just before sunrise. Her air-intake sacs did not appear to be moving her torso-support-struts and so they concluded sadly that she must be dead.

Anguished, the mining trolls decided to entomb Sopale in a clear crystal prismatic oblong death-box, instead of eating her, and to display her beauty to all in a clearing of the wood. As they stood about grieving their hatefriend and not-poly-palemate, a Highblooded prince and his hunting party happened upon them.

The Highblooded prince, whose presence before now in this story has not so much as even been hinted at, because the original authors did not believe in foreshadowing, was so delighted by the sight of the lovely carcass that he shoved the smaller trolls out of his way with one giant hand so he could take a closer look. Rather than requesting her picture, or even offering to buy her meat-corpse, the face-painted prince opened the casket and swung Sopale's limp form out.

"Motherfucking ultramarine miracle-sis! This I gotta have for myself. Look she's all floppy like a puppet." 

Then, because he was a clown-faced moron, he wobbled Sopale's head back and forth like he was making her talk, while the mining trolls screeched in incoherent rage, and mild rage, and incomprehension as well. The prince's retinue commiserated with the mining trolls by suggesting a collective meeting of everyone's palms to their own faces. 

Thankfully for the gastric and mental health of all involved, the prince then chose to toss Sopale over his shoulder, in preparation for making off to make out with the dead body, because Highbloods what are you even? All of the forceful movement followed by the firm jab of a bony shoulder directly to her food-intake-sac caused Sopale to project the remains of the partially-digested pomegranate all down the prince's back. He was not as disgusted as he probably should have been, but this didn't matter, as Sopale then began to dizzily regain consciousness. 

Her hatefriends were thrilled, and, once he understood what was happening, the Highblood was happy as well. He offered to all of them reasonable positions on his eventual Carnival battlecruise ship with the fleet, none of them servile or helmsmanlike in nature, because he was so taken with Sopale that he fancied courting her flush. Sopale, however, was overwhelmed by how ridiculous the Indigo prince was, that her previous pale feelings charred in comparison. She and her troll miner clade agreed to join the prince, but not immediately, as Sopale had unfinished business. 

Beldon, not knowing of her failure, had gone back to her castle feeling oddly dissatisfied. Once she examined the feeling, she was no more enlightened because she was distracted by the fact that drone season was approaching and she had filled no quadrants. She had frightened away all of the servants and terrorized surrounding peasants, and had no prospects. 

Just as Beldon began to despair, and realize the series of unfortunate mistakes she had made, her former nemesis arrived like an improper copper disc.  
Sopale had realized who the so-called peddler had been and her feelings for her attacker were so richly inked as to be abyssal. She confronted Beldon in her former home aggressively, taunting her failed attempts and digging verbal claws into old wounds. (Edictrix's note: I've been reminded that this is a fable, and not a 10 Caegar romance novel, and am barred from going into detail at this point.)

Having beaten Beldon in equal combat, Sopale proposed they be Kismeses. Beldon agreed whole-spadedly and both found their other quadrants among the mining trolls and the prince's retinue. Oh and also the hunter. He lived. They all filled their filial duties on time lawfully and became the crew of the prince's star-destroyer, and lived Imperial-approvedly for the rest of their days, wrecking havoc upon the Empire's enemies in the area of the Horsehead Nebula.

The end. Now go to coon. Or whatever. I'm not your Lusus.

**Author's Note:**

> OMG you read this? Thank you so much for reading this! Please feel free to offer critique. The plot bunny just wouldn't die but it did become Fall-Apart Rabbit about halfway thru...


End file.
